Sweet Revenge
by LaraLee88
Summary: Severus Snape takes an unpleasant and particularly destructive trip into his past. This is a story of someone trying to let go, of someone attempting to find repentance, and most of all bitterness—and it's the sort bitterness that will eat away at you like a disease. This was written in response to a challenge prompt from 30minutefics.They are on LiveJournal for those interested.
1. Part One

**Characters are property of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Universe. Thankfully, she allows me to borrow them for a bit of fun.**

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**Sweet Revenge**

**By: Laralee**

Severus Snape was drunk. Well, not precisely—he wasn't completely drunk, but well on his way to total inebriation. He sat in his darkened personal chambers at Hogwarts; an unopened bottle of Firewhisky by his feet, and a glass in his hand with a matching decanter to his immediate left. The crystal decanter looked to be almost empty, maybe two of three more shots of Ogden's Old in its bottom. He threw back the remaining liquor in his glass, taking it all in a single swig. Just as all the drinks before, this one burnt on its way down. He grimaced until the alcohol settled in his stomach, then relaxed his features slightly as warmth was sent flooding through him. He brought his hand to his neck, releasing the top button of his frock from its hole, and settled himself further in his leather wingback chair. He desired unconsciousness and if he had anything to do with it, he would receive it.

Unconsciousness brought about by hard liquor was the only thing that gave him the escape he sought. An escape from his traitorous mind—his mind that would wander in directions it ought not go, his mind that would plague him nightly with dreams he never wished to see. He wouldn't have to deal with his mind tonight. He could feel the haze of drunkenness creeping over him and he relished it. Reaching for the decanter on his side table, he didn't even bothering emptying its contents in the glass. He drank the remaining amber liquid straight from its vessel, savoring its sting. _So very close, _he thought, _so very close, indeed. _He leaned his head back, closing his eyes, and allowed a dull sleep to take him. Much to his chagrin, he dreamed—and he dreamed much too vividly for his own liking.

_An eleven-year-old Severus Snape raced toward the neighborhood playground. The shoes he wore, which were much too big for his feet, clopped noisily on the pavement of the sidewalk. He had just received his letter from Hogwarts and he wanted the world to know it. More importantly, he wanted her to know it. He knew she would be there. She was always there. He rounded the corner of the lane, spotting that unmistakable red hair flying wildly behind her has she flew into the air with the aid of the swing she was riding on. _

_"Lily! Lily, I got it, just this morning. Look, it was just how mum described it!" _

_Lily stopped swinging, and looked at him with a fantastic smile. She hopped out of her seat and ran to meet him at the playgrounds edge. "Let me see it!"_

_"Alright, but hurry, I can't stay long. Mum told me not to show anybody, but I couldn't keep this a secret." _

_"Wow, it's real! Can I hold it?"_

_"Yeah, sure," he said handing the letter to her. "Have you got yours yet?"_

_Lily looked up at him, a sad smile coming across her face. "No."_

_"You will," he said with assurance. "I know you will. But Listen, I have to go back home. Just for a little while, then I'll meet you back here."_

_She handed him the letter, flashing him another brilliant smile. "Aw, Severus, do you have to go right now? I want to talk to you. I want to know more."_

_"Yeah, I've got to—sorry, Lily. I wasn't supposed to leave the house, but I wanted to see if you got your letter."_

_"Not yet. I hope so though!"_

_"I do too. Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough. One of the professors will probably deliver it personally, with you being a Muggle-born and all."_

_Even from this distance, he could hear his mother calling his name. Recognizing the anxiety in her voice, he took off in the direction of his home. "I gotta go, Lily. I'll see you soon, okay?"_

_"I'll let you know when it comes," Lily Evans called to his retreating form. "You'll be the first to know, Severus!"_

_Winded, he finally made it to his front door, only to find his mother with a scowl on her face waiting for him. "I thought I told you to stay put, Severus Snape. Where have you been?"_

_He held up the letter in an attempt to defend himself. "I went to show Lily—to see if she got her letter yet."_

_His mother's features softened and she smiled. "And did she get her letter?"_

_"Nope, not yet. I told her she would. You think she will, mum?"_

_"She has just as much magic in her as you do. Don't worry Severus, she'll get her letter. In the meantime, get yourself in this house so I can feed you." _

_He and his mother sat at their kitchen table, he quietly eating his lunch and she staring out the window. _

_"Tell me about Diagon Alley," he said, interrupting her gaze."The letter says that's where I get my stuff for school. When will we be going?"_

_Eileen Snape looked to her son, amused by his eagerness. "Diagon Alley is a magical place, Severus. It's a place filled to the brim of magical people and magical things. And we will go tomorrow as soon as your father leaves the house for the mill."_

_The eleven-year-old Severus sat very still as he listened to his mother speak. By the look on his face, he was struggling to keep a thought to himself. "Why does he not like magic," he asked, finally giving in to the temptation. "Why do we always have to sneak?"_

_"He doesn't like magic, Severus," she replied with a sigh, "because he doesn't understand it. When people don't understand things, they can become afraid of them. He is afraid of what he doesn't understand and this fear keeps him from ever appreciating all the joy and happiness it can bring."_

_"You don't think he'll ever change his mind?"_

_"No."_

_"EILEEN!" His father's booming voice erupted from behind his parents' bedroom door. By the sound of it, he was still intoxicated and ill-tempered. It was becoming a familiar habit for him. Severus jumped at his tone, knowing what was to follow. He looked to his mother for reassurance only to have the look on her face send a shiver through him._

_"Oh, God," Eileen whispered, looking absolutely stricken. "He's awake. Hurry, to your room with you. Take your letter and stay there until I come for you. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" _

_"Yes but…"_

_"No, Severus," she scolded, pulling him out of his seat. "Go, now!"_

_He retreated from the kitchen, taking the steps leading upstairs as fast as his feet would carry him. He made it to his bedroom just in time to hear a door bang open followed by the loud smack of a hand making contact with a face._

Severus came to with a start, nearly falling out of his chair. The glass that had settled itself between his legs crashed to floor, shattering when it connected with the stone tiles. Still slightly disoriented, he rubbed his face roughly with hands, noticing the cold sweat that had appeared over his skin. He looked over his shoulder at the grandfather clock that stood near his door. It was a few minutes past eleven, meaning he been asleep for less than an hour. The short, liquor-induced doze had sobered him up a bit, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Grabbing his wand from the table, he pointed it at the shards of glass strewn about the floor. "Reparo," he managed to ground out rather gruffly. The pieces of glass came together and mended themselves seamlessly, forming the mate to his crystal decanter. He retrieved the sparkling liquor glass from the floor and placed it beside the empty decanter.

Toeing off his worn dragon hide boots, he eased himself back into his chair and simply stared into the flames of his fireplace. This was his life.

"And what a shit life, indeed_,_" he mused aloud; essentially alone and left to the whims of his own damned mind. It was maddening to say the least and tedious at the absolute worst. Severus closed his eyes once more, hoping he would have just one night of peace. He wouldn't be getting it tonight. Just as before, his mind traveled to places it had no business going.

_A fifteen year old Severus Snape was standing in his mother's kitchen. He held his wand tightly as he pleaded with her to see reason._

_"Just come with me, please!" _

_"Severus, I can't do that and you shouldn't ask it of me." _

_"Why don't you just leave him?"_

_"Because, Severus."_

_"Because why? He treats you miserably and you go running back to him. Every. Single. Time! I don't understand it, and I swear I never will, Mum. I'll never understand the way you think—it's like you're not thinking at all!"_

_His mother's hand connected sharply with the side of his face. "How dare you talk to me this way? After everything your father and I have done for you."_

_Tears started to pool in his eyes as he brought his free hand to his now reddened, stinging cheek. He expected that sort of thing from his dad, not her. "After what you've done for me? What have you done for me, besides deny me the only thing I ever wanted? That bastard is not a father or a decent husband, he—"_

_"You had better watch your tone, boy, before you cause me to do something you'll regret." _

_Snape's blood ran cold as he heard his father's bitter voice come from behind him. Suddenly, Tobias Snape's hands found their way around his son's neck. Severus felt himself being shoved up against the wall by the man who was supposed to be his father—the one person who was supposed to keep him out of harm's way. _

_"Maybe I should just throw your sorry arse out right now."_

_"Tobias, please."_

_"Stay out of this, Eileen. He won't come into my house and disrespect me."_

_"What do you know of respect?" Severus choked out. "You don't know the meaning of the word, father."_

_ "Is that so? Perhaps you and I should learn about it together then!" Tobias Snape hurled the teenaged Severus to the floor."Do they not teach you respect at that fucking school you go to? That fucking school for people like…you?" The older man made to reach for Severus, but stopped when he felt something jab into his neck. Severus triumphantly held his wand to his father's throat; watching as the hateful man glared at him with more contempt than he could have thought possible. _

_Somehow Severus found his voice despite his father's vengeful stare. "I'll do it, so help me I will. If you lay a hand on her again or if you as so much as look at me the wrong way, they won't find the slightest bit of you. I'll make sure they don't."_

_Tobias Snape backed away from his son, but not before knocking a dinner plate and all of its contents from the table all over him. _

Snape's eyes flew open and he sucked in a deep breath of air out of surprise. Realizing it was just another bloody dream, he brought his hands to his head, trying to calm himself. It didn't work, so he resorted to pleading with the contents found within his skull.

"For Christ's sake! Get out of my head," he rasped, running his hands through his hair. He couldn't sit in this chair anymore, especially not after that. Groggily, he made his way to his feet and stumbled off toward his bed. He never made it, but instead stopped in front of a large mirror that hung over his fireplace. Truth be told, his own reflection took him off his guard.

His face was a paler than usual, if that was even possible. A thin layer of sweat glistened on his features, matting his hair to his forehead. He looked utterly stricken, like he had seen a ghost or a ghoul of some sort. He noticed fear in his eyes; an emotion he had normally forbidden himself to show.

Since when did dreams affect him so?

The longer he looked at his reflection in the mirror, the more he realized he would not find peace. This was the sort of demon he would have to face in order to defeat and he would have to do it tonight. Blinking his eyes heavily, he walked over to where he had been sitting. He pulled his boots back on and grabbed his wand from the table, as well as the unopened bottle of Firewhiskey from the floor. Casting one final glance at the only place he could truly call his home, he turned and headed for the door that would inevitably lead him to Spinner's End.

Severus Disapparated from the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the small township of Cokeworth in Northern England, the full bottle of Ogden's Old never leaving his hand. The streets were deserted, just as he expected them to be. No one in their right mind would come here. There was nothing here, nothing but bitter memories for him, at least. He stood in the abandoned streets, eating up the scene before him with cold, steady eyes and no expression on his face whatsoever.

A streak of white-hot lightning cracked across the night sky, followed shortly thereafter by a rolling peal of thunder. Breaking his gaze of the structure that stood before him, he looked up and regarded the swirling black mass of clouds. A storm was brewing directly above his head. _All the better, _Severus thought to himself_. I could use a proper audience. _Just as the rain started to fall, he made his way into his childhood home - into the belly of the beast where all of his terrors originated, into the hell that shaped him into the man he was today.

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Author's Notes: For those curious, this was written in response to a challenge from _30minutefics_. The community is on LiveJournal for those interested. You get the premise of the idea. You get a prompt and thirty minutes to work your magic. This first chapter was my thirty minutes. Don't fret, this story will be completed. Also, I just want to say writing under a time limit was much harder than I anticipated. Thirty minutes really wasn't that much time, as I was only able to squeeze out about 2700 words. With all that out now, I think I need a drink myself… *stumbles off toward the bar*


	2. Part Two

**Characters are property of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Universe. Thankfully, she allows me to borrow them for a bit of fun.**

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**Sweet Revenge Part Two**

**By: Laralee**

The moment Severus pushed open the door, he was assaulted by the foul smell of mold and aged wood. He couldn't decide which was worse, the putrid stench coming from the filthy river which flowed nearby or that of inside of his childhood home. As he walked inside, he could tell no one had been inside the damned house for years. Both of his parents were long since dead. His father eventually drank himself to death and his mother wallowed in self pity and bereavement for the remainder of her days, practically a recluse. He never went to their funerals. Hell, he didn't even know where his father and mother were laid to rest. Though they were dead and gone, they still haunted him. They wouldn't let him forget where he came from.

"Lumos." The faint light from the tip of his wand illuminated the modest sitting room he had just entered. He looked around noticing how much it remained unchanged from his childhood. The old brown, threadbare sofa with broken springs sat a little ways from the wall. Severus closed his eyes as all the memories of him hiding behind it to escape his father's wrath came flooding into his mind. Finally, one memory made its presence known rather forcefully. He could picture it just as plain as day in his mind's eye.

_Severus was very young, maybe no more than three or four. He was sitting in the middle of the sitting room floor playing with a ball. He tossed it as far as his little arms would allow. His throw wasn't hard but strong enough to send it rolling behind the sofa. He scurried over and thrust his arm under it, reaching for all he was worth. It was no use, he simply couldn't reach it. He sat himself up on he's knees concentrating hard on what he wanted. Suddenly, the ball flew from behind the couch and crashed into a lamp sitting nearby. It fell to the floor breaking into several pieces. About the time the lamp hit the floor, his father came through the front door. _

"_What have you done?"_

_Severus could do nothing but seek shelter under an old, rickety table._

_His father kicked the table against the wall and pulled him up by his shoulders to where he was dangling in the air in front of him. "I said what have you done!" Severus couldn't find his words as the tears started to fall from his eyes. He was terrified of his father._

"_Tobias?" It was his mother. She always seemed to come to his rescue just before his father could fly off the handle. Tobias Snape dropped his son to the floor and spun around to face his wife. Severus retreated behind the sofa, careful not to make a sound. _

"_That son of yours is at it again! He's breaking things with his so called magic."_

"_Tobias, he can't help it. He's only a child; he can't control it yet."_

"_I don't care, Eileen! You had better figure out a way to keep him under control or you will find yourselves out on the streets. I won't have such nonsense in my house!"_

"_Please…"_

"_Oh, shut up," he said, shoving her into the wall. "And clean this mess up!"_

_The elder Snape turned to leave the room, but stopped just as he passed the couch. He pulled it away from the wall to reveal his cowering child. "And if you break anything else that belongs to me, boy, it'll be your hide!" _

_When he heard the door to his mother and father's room slam shut, he emerged from this hiding spot and went to his mother, who was sitting on the floor in front of the mess. "I'm sorry, Mummy. I...I"_

_Eileen Prince wrapped her son in her arms and pulled him into her lap. "Shhhh, Severus. It is alright."_

_They both sat crying in the middle of the floor, clinging to one another like their very lives depended on it. _

Severus's eyes snapped open with the sudden rush of ire he felt flowing though him. Without warning, a violent red blast came from the tip of his wand and headed straight for the tattered couch. The piece of furniture exploded, showering the room with bits of cloth, wood, and metal. He didn't stop there. He spotted the mate to the same lamp he had broken all of those years ago sitting on a small end table. He stormed over to where it sat and grabbed it up. He looked at it a long while before hurling it into the wall. It shattered into hundreds of pieces, each of which scattered about the floor noisily. "Oops."

Severus turned on his heel and headed for his old room on the second floor. He emerged at the top of the stairs and went to the last door on the right side of the narrow hall. His hand rested on the rusty doorknob as he questioned whether or not he wanted to enter and face the demons that would inevitably be lurking about. The desire for retribution eventually won out and he turned the knob slowly until he heard the latch click. He pushed the door open, revealing a small bed pushed up against the wall. He hadn't really expected his parents to keep any of his old things, but he didn't expect to find the room completely bare. He walked into the dark room and sat down on the bed. As he removed the lid from his bottle of Firewhiskey, his mind began to wander. And just as before, it went to places he never wished it would.

The more he thought about it, the more his old room represented something he had always known. To his parents, he was more of a burden than anything else. His father had always hated him and his mother, though she tried to love him, never really did. This was made obvious by the fact that she picked Tobias Snape, an abusive, oppressive Muggle, over him. He would never forgive her for that. Never.

He leaned up against the headboard, taking a deep sip of the hard liquor. He closed his eyes and allowed himself the chance to remember the last time he had set foot in this room.

_Severus stood in the middle of his parent's house, all of his possessions in a bag that was flung over his shoulder. He had just returned from his final year at Hogwarts and he wasted no time leaving this place. _

"_I'm leaving."_

"_Good riddance to you," his father slurred from his spot on the sofa._

_Severus eyed the Muggle with contempt, itching to give the vile man a taste of his own medicine. He looked back to his mother who was standing near the door. She never said a word to him. She didn't even bother to look at him, as her eyes were focused on her hands._

"_Mother?"_

"_I think it's clear she wants nothing more to do with you."_

"_I suppose you speak for her now, as well? It's not enough to control her every move, but I guess you've decided you should become her mouth, too?"_

_Tobias Snape managed to get up from his seat and stood toe to toe with his son. "And what if I do?"_

_Severus unsheathed his wand and pointed it in his father's face. "Give me a reason to end you, I beg you. Give me a reason to make you squirm." _

_He felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. Severus turned around to see his mother looking up at him, her features displaying no sign of emotion. "I think it's time you leave." _

_Severus scoffed at her sudden act of boldness. "So that's how it's going to be? I guess I should have expected it. You've spent all these years picking him over me. Why would now be any different?"_

"_Severus…"_

"_No," he said, holding up his hand, "I don't want to hear it. You've made your opinions known. You always have, I've just failed to notice it until now." _

"_I've made my choice, Severus, and you can't change it. So do not waste your time attempting to do so."_

"_How can you stand there and say you don't have a choice? You're a witch for God's sake!"_

"_I have spoken my piece."_

"_As have I, mother. As have I." Severus Snape walked out the front door and vowed from that day forward to never look back on his decision to do so. _

Severus remembered that conversation well because that was the last time he spoke to either of his parents. That had been nearly fifteen years ago and it still pissed him off. He let loose a feral scream as he chucked the bottle of Firewhiskey at the wall. The bottle smashed into the drywall, leaving traces of alcohol and glass embedded in it. He removed himself from his old room, slamming the door behind him with a deafening bang. Several of the framed pictures his mother had placed on the walls in the hallway fell to the floor from the sheer force he put behind his heave. He didn't bother stepping over them, but rather purposefully dug his heel into them as he walked back towards the stairs.

Severus Snape had decided he was putting an end to this madness once and for all. Every reminder of them he came across, he blasted into oblivion with a well placed spell from his wand. Each time he destroyed a piece of his past, a piece of their memory, he could feel himself lose a bit of the bitterness that had attached itself to that particular object and, by extension, himself. It was liberating to relieve himself of such a heavy burden. Every ear-splitting sound of shattering glass, every riotous crack of splintering wood, every screeching cry of contorting metal was his way of getting back at them for the hell he had lived through.

By the time Severus had finished his curb-stomping attack on his childhood home, he had hollowed it out completely, leaving it wide open like a deep, gaping wound. He looked around, but was still not satisfied with his work. He wanted to eradicate this corner of hell from his life completely. He pointed his wand at a pile of dry twisted wood near his feet. "Incendio." He stepped over the growing flame and walked through the front door, closing it behind him just as the magic fire began to produce a subtle roar.

Pausing in the deserted, rain soaked streets, just as a cloud of smoke began to billow from the remains of the gutted house, Severus inhaled deeply. He smelled not the sour reek of smoldering wood and debris, but rather the sweet, sweet scent of revenge. He was finally free.

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Author's Notes:

Well, there you have it! As always, I like to know what my readers think. So please, share your thoughts!


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